Missing Malaysia Airlines jet: Search in pictures

A look at the massive search mission

Despite a massive search, no trace has emerged yet of Malaysia Airlines
MY:MAS
flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, which disappeared early on Saturday over the ocean. The Boeing 777-200 jetliner was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it went missing hundreds of miles off the coast of Malaysia. Several nations are taking part in the hunt for clues to the fate of the plane — but so far, their work has proved fruitless. Here’s a look in pictures at the efforts involved.

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The hunt for the missing flight has seen Malaysia and other countries send out at least 40 ships and 34 aircraft to try to find debris or any other clues to what happened to the jetliner. A report of a floating object in the waters between Malaysia and Vietnam turned out not to be the life raft it was suspected of being after a Vietnamese naval vessel investigated. Here, an MI-171 helicopter in Ca Mau prepares on Monday to go on a new search.

Getty Images

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Malaysia’s director general of civil aviation, Dato’ Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, gives a media briefing in Kuala Lumpur on Monday on developments in the search, now in its third day. Investigators are still trying to verify sightings of debris and oil traces at sea. The area being combed was doubled on Monday to a radius of 100 nautical miles, The Wall Street Journal reported. Radar readings by Malaysia’s military indicate the plane may have reversed direction before it disappeared, sending it off its official course, and calling for a wider search area.

Reuters

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Military personnel in a helicopter belonging to the Vietnamese airforce carry out a search off Vietnam’s Tho Chu island on Monday. The disappearance of the Boeing 777-200ER jetliner has been described as “inexplicable” by one expert, and Malaysia’s civil aviation chief has called it an “unprecedented mystery”, according to Reuters.

Reuters

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The crew of the Vietnamese helicopter scan the waters for traces of the Malaysia Airlines plane. Malaysia has asked its own fishermen -- about 1,700 vessels -- to watch for wreckage. Malaysia has also approached Indonesia to ask its fishing fleet to help, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Getty Images

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A Chinese official arrives Monday in Kuala Lumpur to contribute to the hunt. A meeting held by Chinese authorities in Beijing with families of missing passengers, meant to reassure relatives, ended in chaos on Monday after the families protested angrily about a lack of official answers, according to media reports.

AFP/Getty Images

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Reports of objects thought to belong to the plane, such as a suspected piece of tail, have turned out to be false, and there is a complete lack of evidence to the location of the missing plane. A sample from an oil slick spotted over the weekend turned out, on analysis, not to be jet fuel, Malaysian authorities revealed on Monday. Here, Vietnamese Air Force crew take part in the massive search-and-rescue mission.

AFP/Getty Images

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However, Vietnamese officials are still trying to track down a reported inner door panel, which they do not believe has been checked out. The search has pulled in Vietnamese military personnel, as seen here. “It’s a bit windier today, but that doesn’t affect our operations as the view is clear,” Rear Admiral Ngo Van Phat said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

AFP/Getty Images

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Relatives of the 239 people on board the Malaysia Airlines flight complete paperwork for Chinese passports in Beijing, to prepare to travel to the crash site. Many family members stayed close to Kuala Lumpur and Beijing airports over the weekend to be on hand for any news, becoming increasingly upset as no updates came.

Reuters

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The disappearance of Flight 370 has attracted worldwide media attention and support. The lack of evidence and the mystery of two passengers traveling on false passports are keeping that interest stoked. Here, Buddhist rescue workers take part in non-denominational mass prayers for the missing at Kuala Lumpur airport on Sunday.

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